I usually wait 2 weeks after using round up to pull the dead plants. Then I do another round up application for anything that may have resprouted.

Give Round Up a full two weeks to make sure the roots are completely dead. You'll notice some things may not have died by then. If it's a few, pull them out by hand. If it's a lot, try another app. I have used RU sparingly, but I have noticed some things, like wild strawberries, don't seem to be affected by it and need to be pulled by hand. After that I guess planting now or later depends on what you plant. I'd lean towards establishing things this fall as long as you can provide the plants with water.

Depending on whether the "high forest on the side" is deciduous or mainly conifers, you might get away with very early daffs or other spring bulbs.

But couldn't you have used the "roundup on a glove" technique to kill the weeds and leave the thyme? I keep reading that that trick (putting the roundup into a can or bowl, and applying it with a double-gloved hand, dipping the outer, cotton glove into the roundup while the inner, rubber glove keeps your hand dry) can be used to selectively kill taller weeds in an area with desirable lower-growing plants.

I'm just asking because I've got a lot of garden areas, including many with tiny thyme varieties, infested with Nimblewill (Muhlenbergia shreberi) and I do intend to try this technique - hoping it works!

I'm glad others have answered your original question, because I have no experience (yet!) with roundup.

My Round Up bottle is out in the garage - and I don't feel like going out in the rain to get it. But I seem to think that if you use Round Up to eradicate a whole area, that you are supposed to wait until the following spring to plant. Something about the RU coming in contact with the soil and preventing seed germination. I could be wrong, and might be thinking of some other herbicide. But definitely check your round up bottle before you plant the area.

Thanks everyone.....I have seen some things that apparently were not killed by the RU. So the advice about a 2nd round is really appreciated.

Diggingthedirt - oh yes, I did try the glove technique but it just didn't work. I had everything from clover to sedge grasses invading (crab grass, regular grass, thistle, etc.) Sometimes you just have to know when to give up.....my knees and arthritic hands screamed this year. I did have about 4-5 years of loving it in the Spring but as summer progressed, the weeds just loved the site!

Thanks everyone!